Miller 210 or 251 or Lincoln?

A client today mentioned he was going to buy a new mig machine, and I commented that I had a nearly mint Airco PhaseArc 350, identical to the one on his shop floor, but I couldnt use it as I didnt have a big enough rotary converter .

To make a long story short..he has offered to buy me a brand new mig, and simply trade me for mine as he loves his existing machine and its powerful enough to do the big stuff he does, etc etc.

So...which do I go for? He mentioned being willing to spend around $1600, and he can get nearly wholesale pricing. Very old shop, very well known fellah.

Ive been browsing around the net at pricing..and the 251 comes in around $1700 (and I think he can beat that) or the 210 which is around $1300 or so.

To complicate things..as I mentioned earlier..I bought a used Miller

30A spool gun, which appears to be set up for direct use/plug and play, with the 251, but not usable ? with the 210.

Or should I be looking at a Lincoln? If so..which one in that $1700 price range? The spool gun will need an expensive adapter at that point..so it goes on the back burner.

Gunner, somewhat of an advanced hobby welder/JOT

"That which does not kill us has made a tactical error."

--Howard Tayler > 'The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates' >
formatting link
Reply to
Gunner
Loading thread data ...

No brainer. Get a Millermatic 251. Plug your 30A right in. I have the 250, same machine but not digital, and didn't come with the spoolgun module. Outfitting it to work with the 30A cost me about $250. That's not counting the 30A.

New Miller? Shoot .. go for it.

GWE

Reply to
Grant Erwin

No question about it, go for the 251. I have one with the 30A and love it. I've had quite a few machines and the 251 / 30A combination is excellent. Lots of nice features built in, one of the nicest arcs I've seen, repeatable settings, gas saving feature, gun on demand,dead stinger when using spoolgun, quick change rollers, push pull availible, plus a lot more.The worst thing is the cheesey gun and cable holder that folds out from the side, but that really isn't a big deal to fix.

Good to see your silver cloud is still raining on you!!

Pete

Reply to
Pete

Jeez, Gunner, are you asking for advice or is this basically a gloat? :-) I would wait exactly 2 heartbeats, and then jump on the 251. You've got the 30A, now get the machine to go with it!

Just think, if you'd snagged this a few years ago you would have missed out on seeing your trailer's spare tire pass you on the highway. That

251 will deliver a lot more heat to the bead than the little MIG you were using then!

You ever find that spare tire?

Take care, Dave

Reply to
LowEnergyParticle

Sigh..no...gone into the limbo that small springs and dropped screws disappear into.

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

Reply to
Gunner

Get the Millermatic 251 and be very very happy. We have 3 at South Seattle CC and they are great machines. If you plan on running any dual-shield wire, plan on upgrading the gun to a Tregaskis 400 amp Toughgun. Great combination, and your spoolgun will plug right in.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Thanks Ernie. Ive got probably 100lbs of .045 dual shield..ie 3 of the big spools and I understand its the Good Stuff for welding the kind of stuff I do...rusty iron and old pipe and whatnot

Will the supplied gun do the job for a while?

Gunner

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Yes, but you will quickly burn it out. The gun Miller installs is a Tregaskiss gun, but it is one of their bargain basement guns.

The guns you want are either the XL3015 or XL4015. The "XL means Toughgun, the "3" or "4" means 300 amps or 400 amps, and the "15" is 15 feet.

So a XL3012 and XL4012 would be 12 foot guns.

I like the 400 amp guns but a 300 may be enough.

Just stay away from the 200 amp guns.

Here is a eBay listing that shows all 3

You can see the construction is very different between the 200 amp series and the 300 and 400 amps guns.

In 7 years at South Seattle we have yet to break a Toughgun. We have replaced lots of liners, gas diffusers, tips and cups, but no trigger switches, goosenecks or gun bodies.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

While what Ernie says is completely correct in all respects, I have the stock-standard gun on my Millermatic 250 and don't push it very hard and so far it is holding up just fine. I suggest you buy the welder and use the gun until it shows signs of stress and only then consider upgrading.

GWE

Reply to
Grant Erwin

That link did not work for me. Here is a simpler version:

formatting link
(item number 7587044011)

Reply to
xray

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.